No IBM employees were arrested following Russian
authorities’ raid on the IBM offices in Moscow, according
to news reports.

The Russian Interior Ministry said on its Web site that
IBM executives in Russia plotted with officials at the
pension fund and with two other local software companies –
R-Style and Lanit – to rig auctions and embezzle part of
the $38 million the state had budgeted for new computers,
according to Bloomberg.

“To embezzle the allotted funds, a number of high
ranking [pension] officials responsible for conducting
tenders for equipment purchases conspired criminally with
representatives of the commercial companies,” the ministry
said in a statement Thursday carried by a Russian news
agency.

According to InformationWeek, the ministry will continue
to investigate what it estimates to be
a $4-million kickback scheme between IBM and pension
fund employees.

An IBM spokesperson told InformationWeek that the
company’s operations would continue uninterrupted.